When Candide and Cacambo land for the first time in Eldorado, they see a group of boys playing a typical children's game. However, upon further inspection, Candide and Cacambo are astonished when they see that the circles “were rather large round objects, yellow, red, or green, which shone with an extraordinary brilliance” (59). Furthermore, “they collected some and found that some were made of gold, while others were emeralds or rubies; the smallest of them would have been the greatest ornament of a Mogul's throne” (59). Children treat gold and emeralds as if they were mere pebbles and worthless. Furthermore, when Candide and Cacambo leave Eldorado and ask for some of the gold, the king asks in amazement: “I cannot understand why you Europeans are so fond of our yellow mud, but take as much as you like, you are welcome” (66). Just like the children, the king believes that gold has no value and even compares it to “mud,” a material that has no value. By comparing gold to mud, the king overemphasizes the uselessness of gold in El Dorado society. Dalnekoff in his text cited above argues that “it is a characteristic of utopian literature to satirize the economic systems of real society and the lust for gold and silver. ...While in the real European world gold and silver are associated with what is noble and exalted, in Utopia they are